South Korea sack Jurgen Klinsmann following Asian Cup exit

Jurgen Klinsmann has been sacked as head coach of South Korea after just 12 months in the role and following the country’s Asian Cup semi-final defeat.

The German, 59, was appointed in February last year and had a contract until the end of the 2026 World Cup.

South Korea lost to Jordan in the Asian Cup on 6 February, prolonging the country’s 64-year wait for the title.

The Korea Football Association (KFA) criticised Klinsmann’s leadership and said a change “is necessary”.

Fans, politicians and the Korean media had called for Klinsmann to be sacked after their semi-final exit in Qatar and there were also reports of in-fighting between top players during the tournament.

South Korea captain Son Heung-min reportedly injured his finger in a dispute with team-mates during a team dinner before their shock loss to Jordan.

“Coach Klinsmann failed to demonstrate leadership that we expected from the national team coach, including game management, player management and work attitude, which elevate the competitiveness of the national team,” said KFA President Chung Mong-gyu.

Following the loss to Jordan, who are ranked 64 places below South Korea at 87th in the world, Klinsmann said he had no plans to resign.

However on Thursday, the National Team Committee, an advisory body of the KFA, recommended the sacking of the former Tottenham and Bayern Munich forward, who won the World Cup as a player with West Germany in 1990.

“We’ve reached a consensus that Klinsmann cannot exercise his leadership as national team head coach for various reasons and that a change of leadership is necessary,” said KFA technical director Hwangbo Kwan.

Klinsmann has been an unpopular figure with fans since taking over because of the lack of time he spent in South Korea, preferring instead to remain based in California.

In his first six months in the job, a Seoul newspaper calculated Klinsmann had spent just 67 days in the country, in contrast to past foreign coaches who had all been based in the capital city.

He led Germany to third place at the 2006 World Cup and the United States to the knockout stages of the 2014 tournament, but his previous role before South Korea was a 10-week spell at Bundesliga side Hertha BSC four years ago.

South Korea’s star-studded side – which included Son, Wolves striker Hwang Hee-chan and Paris St-Germain’s Lee Kang-in – were one of the favourites to lift the Asian Cup but they failed to show any real creative spark during tournament.

They only won one match in normal time and in the second round, they were 90 seconds from elimination before a 99th-minute equaliser against Saudi Arabia and then winning a penalty shootout.

In the quarter-final, they levelled against Australia in the 96th minute before Tottenham’s Son scored a superb extra-time free-kick to book their last-four spot.

However, they did not register a single shot on target in the semi-final and were surprisingly outclassed by underdogs Jordan, who were beaten in the final by hosts Qatar.